opening reception Friday, April 2, 2010 from 6-9 p.m.
artist’s talk at 8 p.m
Runs through April 24, 2010

As blue skies and sunshine signal the arrival of spring, Metro Detroiters eagerly await the start of another tradition: baseball season!  With Opening Day just around the corner, Detroit artist Eric Mesko takes us on a whimsical yet evocative trip into the past of America’s favorite warm weather sport.  Mr. Mesko’s grandfather, Francis Lynch, played amateur baseball with a Pennsylvania coal mining team in 1908 and continued playing for the next three decades with various coal mining and steel mill teams. Mudville USA offers homage to that history and to the innocent joy the sport offered in its earlier days, hinting that we might do well to remember where we came from and cherish certain aspects of that past.

Mr. Mesko is a long-time Detroit resident who holds both a B.F.A. and an M.F.A. from Wayne State University. A former Marine, he is known for his social and political activism. He has shown his work at The Detroit Institute of Arts, and has had one-person shows at Oakland University, Willis Gallery, Zeitgeist Gallery, Marygrove College, and the Michigan Gallery among others.

The show will open with a reception Friday, April 2, from 6-9 p.m. with an artist’s talk at 8 p.m. The show will continue through April 24 during the Art House Gallery hours (Wednesday-Saturday, 1-5 p.m.). In addition, the Friends of the Library will also hold a “used” sports book sale in the lower gallery of the Art House from 6:00-9:00 p.m. on First Friday.  Proceeds will benefit both the Friends of the Northville District Library and the Northville Art House. For additional information, call 248-344-0497 or visit www.northvillearts.org. The Art House is located at 215 W. Cady Street and is a facility of the Northville Arts Commission. Admission to Art House shows is always free and open to the public.